District Works to Find Fiscal Solutions to Special Education Funding

In his small office at the Dearborn Public Schools’ Audette Street administrative headquarters, Michael Shelton hopes that upcoming changes to offset special education monies will offset a looming crisis in funding for programming.

Shelton, the director of special education for the 18,500-student district, said that balancing the needs of the district’s most challenged students against the backdrop of one of the most difficult fiscal environments in decades has been his challenge since taking the helm of the department for the 2010-11 school year.

“We’re always going to make decisions based on what’s best for students,” he said. “But we knew what we would be dealing with a long time ago regarding funding, and we’re working hard to find solutions that are right for children.”

In Dearborn, part of reducing a projected $500,000 general fund shortfall for the 2011-12 school year and bigger deficits in the future means creating more opportunities for special education students to attend classes in-district, as opposed to sending them out of district.

Though reductions in staffing through attrition and reenvisioning the role of employees within the special education department have solved this year's deficit—if the district’s proposed 2011-12 budget is approved by the school board Monday night—there is another potential crisis on the horizon.

Funding for special education “center programs,” or classes that address learning for students with specific challenges, are provided through a millage approved by voters several years ago. But costs for the programs, which are administered by the Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA), are outpacing revenue, creating a situation where the school district could have to pay RESA for taking part in the center program system.

The district–already hamstrung by dwindling property tax collections brought on by a foreclosures crisis, the loss of federal stimulus dollars and the ongoing economic troubles–could face a center program shortfall of $1 million for the 2012-13 school year. That number would grow to more than $2 million in 2013-14, according to Shelton.

Beginning in the 2011-12 school year, DPS hopes to open new classrooms for special education, and bring students–and their per-pupil funding–back to the district.

A Complex Scenario

At Dearborn Public Schools, 2,108 students fall into the category of special education. Many have conditions such as speech and language difficulties, but 220 of those students will attend five center programs specifically designed to address autism spectrum disorder, hearing impairments, moderately cognitively impaired, physically impaired and otherwise health impaired, severely cognitively impaired and multiply impaired.

Students with needs beyond a conventional classroom that do not fit into those programs are sent to other districts. For instance, students who are at the far end of the autism spectrum are sent to the Burger Center in Garden City, while students who have needed job training have been sent to the Jo Brighton School in Wyandotte.

The network was created many years ago so individual schools do not have to run center programs when there are only a handful of students needing instruction, and to allow districts to develop specific successful programs that educate many children in the entire community.

But when a student leaves the district, they take their state per-pupil funding with them.

In Dearborn, 137 students are sent to other center programs in Wayne County. The district takes in 45 students, who join the 220 in-district students that attend center programs, Shelton said.

“We think we can bring a third (of the 137) of those students back," he said.

“We have some things to do–we need to tell the other schools that they could have a shortfall,” he added. “This is a process that will be taking place over the next year.”

Dearborn Public Schools spent $20,000 renovating a room at the Michael Berry Career Center to teach students job skills, which will eliminate the need for transporting some students. That classroom will be available in September, Shelton said.

Additionally, the district received authorization from RESA to create its own cognitively impaired center program.

But Shelton said more solutions will be implemented after school begins in September.

Anatomy of a Crisis

Kevin Magin, the assistant superintendent of instruction at RESA, which represents 34 public school districts in the county, said the looming crisis in special education funding has been of paramount concern for the agency and its districts.

“It’s something we started warning districts about several years ago,” said Magin. “Our districts have all expressed concern about center programs; and many have been looking at and implementing new ways to deliver services to students. Dearborn is no exception.”

Bob Cipriano, the director of business services for the district, said the issue is something district officials will work to solve during the next year.

“We’re not alone in this,” he said. “All school districts are facing this.”

Parental Perspective

Special education is a complex learning system that students, teachers and their parents navigate together. Students are placed after a child is assessed and parents and educators determine what classes or center programs will be most beneficial to students–with no regard to the current fiscal situation.

Collette Dunsmore, president of both the Dearborn Parent-Teacher Association and the Special Education Parent-Teacher Association, said the moves made by the district are likely to be viewed positively by her membership.

“I think many parents will feel more comfortable with their children remaining in district, though some will certainly want to remain in other programs,” she said. “I do think it’s a good thing that they’re looking at ways to bring more students back to Dearborn Schools.”

Dunsmore, the mother of a child with cerebral palsy and cognitive impairment, said students who already face some challenges may be served better closer to home.

“Some kids spend 45 minutes on the bus, and it’s hard for them to concentrate that long on a bus,” she said.

Shelton said any changes that occur in Dearborn’s special education system will put the child and his or her development front and center.

“Educating special education students is a partnership between the district, the parents and their teachers,” he said. “The decision is made based on a child’s needs first and foremost. That is something that will continue.”